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Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2017

By in Earth | Human World | 11 hours ago

Which one would you choose?

See it! Dance of planets before dawn

By in Human World | Today's Image | 14 hours ago

Mars emerged before dawn last week, to meet Mercury below bright Venus. And then the moon passed through. Thanks to all who submitted photos!

Humans are still evolving, say scientists

By in Human World | 2 days ago

Scientists have identified genetic variants less common in older people than younger people. They say it’s natural selection at work, continuing to weed out disadvantageous traits.

Openings in Antarctic sea ice influence global climate

By in Earth | Human World | 6 days ago

Heat escaping through openings in sea ice influences sea and atmospheric temperatures and wind patterns around the globe – even rainfall around the tropics, says new study.

Our Age of Humans in a galactic context

By in Earth | Human World | 1 week ago

A proposed new classification system – somewhat like the well-known Kardashev scale for classifying extraterrestrial civilizations – and a new way of thinking about human sustainability on Earth.

NASA ponders Saturn mission legacy

By in Human World | Space | 1 week ago

A statement from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Cassini mission success at Saturn, and on where solar system exploration will go from here.

How nuclear war would affect Earth’s climate

By in Human World | 2 weeks ago

The climatic effect of a large-scale conflict “… would be similar to that of the giant meteor believed to be responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs. This time, we would be the dinosaurs.”

Human antidepressants found in brains of Great Lakes fish

By in Earth | Human World | 2 weeks ago

“Fish are receiving this cocktail of drugs 24 hours a day, and we are now finding these drugs in their brains.”

How many house-sized NEOs?

By in Human World | Space | 2 weeks ago

A new study shows house-sized NEOs – Near-Earth Objects – to be 10 times fewer than studies had indicated. Still, there are some 3.5 million NEOs larger than 10 meters across.

Artificial intelligence probes gravity’s lens

By in Human World | Space | 2 weeks ago

Researchers at SLAC and Stanford have been using brain-mimicking neural networks to analyze the spacetime distortions of gravitational lenses. They say their analysis is 10 million times faster than before.

A new look at ocean worlds

By in Human World | Space | 2 weeks ago

Here’s how the James Webb Space Telescope – successor to Hubble, due to launch in 2018 – will study Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus.

September’s birthstone is the sapphire

By in Human World | 3 weeks ago

Like the ruby, the sapphire is a form of the mineral corundum, a normally drab grey mineral.

Floods: Not just a coastal issue

By in Earth | Human World | 3 weeks ago

As Hurricane Harvey shows, flooding can happen wherever large storms stall and dump lots of rain. A new study finds development is increasing in flood zones far from any coast.

Biblical signs in the sky?

By in Astronomy Essentials | Human World | 3 weeks ago

Will the sky on September 23, 2017 mirror “signs” from the Book of Revelation in the Bible? An astronomer responds.

Space station transits sun during eclipse

By in Human World | Space | 4 weeks ago

There was only one part of Earth where you could catch the International Space Station crossing the sun’s face during the August 21 solar eclipse. These guys saw it, and created this video.

July 2017 tied with 2016 for hottest July

By in Earth | Human World | 4 weeks ago

It was another hot July. Last month was tied with July 2016 as the warmest July in the 137 years of modern record-keeping.

Today in science: Earth from the moon

By in Earth | Human World | Space | 4 weeks ago

This is the first photo of Earth from the moon, released in 1966. Later, NASA used modern digital technology to restore the photo to reveal more detail.

How ISS astronauts saw the eclipse

By in Human World | Space | 4 weeks ago

The International Space Station passed 3 times on Monday through the moon’s penumbral shadow. Images of the moon’s shadow on Earth, seen from space, acquired by ISS astronauts.

Eclipse photos from EarthSky friends

By and in Human World | Today's Image | 4 weeks ago

We received many more wonderful photos of the August 21 eclipse than for any prior event. We love them all, and wish we could post them all! 

Largest-ever Gulf of Mexico dead zone

By in Earth | Human World | 4 weeks ago

For 32 years, scientists have tracked the oxygen-depleted waters that appear each summer in the Gulf of Mexico. This year’s dead zone is the biggest yet.